VARIED CAREERS OF ICE SKATING STARS

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27735, 12 August 1955, Page 15

VARIED CAREERS OF ICE SKATING STARS

“These car prices are murder,” said Mr Kenny Lamb. “Oh. Look at these shoes at only 3.98," said Miss Britta Rahlen. These two skaters, who are among the stars of the ice show now in Christchurch, were avidly reading advertisements in the New York Times,” which they had not seen for 7 Rahlen began skating in Oslo as soon as she could walk, was eight times Swedish singles and pairs chamnibn three times Scandinavian champio": and won Swedish and English void medals. She was training m the Swedish Olympic team m 1947 when she received a good offer to turn Professional, and has never regretted® it. New Zealand is the seventeenth country in which she has performed, but she never tires of travelling and is “thrilled anew by every audience, she said. “I once skated eight to 10 hours a day in training. Now I do it for pleasure. With one or two shows a day, the company keeps fit, but many of them practise after the curtain falls and get open-air skating whenever possible. 80 Yards of Hemming “What do I do in my spare time? Sew,” said Miss Rahlen. “Im now making myself a summer frock with 80 yards of hemming. Imagine it. Row ' upon row of tucks. And I also have five other frocks on the go, including : some for girls in the company. Although in the cities overseas she ’ attends leading fashion shows, Miss : Rahlen said she loved browsing in f the shops of Christchurch. Especially vour wooUens. I’ve never seen such ■ attractive materials in pure wool or ■ sudh cheap ones,” she said. Favourite of the company atthe moment is a budgerigar called Tiki

whom they have taught to talk. He vzill be left with friends in Wellington when they leave New Zealand, but on return to Australia they will pick up “Dinkie.” . Mr Lamb joined a skating club in Seattle when 17 and some of its amateur shows were so good that one member, wife of a producer in New York, ; secured him a place on the stage. It was quickly found that he was a born comedian and he has made his present “hobo” role his own. Every Fall Rehearsed “But every jerk, every stumble, every fall is rehearsed—for my own health,” Mr Lamb said. In Chicago, he once .did 30 shows in 10 days, involving 2000 falls on the flat of his back. “I didn’t get a scratch until I went swimming in the lake” he said. For six months in his early career, Mr Lamb used padding. “But you can jar your nerves, even though you save your skin,” he explained. The skating life of such a skating comedian- was unlimited, Mr Lamb said. Freddie Trenkler had been at it for 20 years and was still going strongly but the circle was small with only 10 solo comedians in the United States and Great Britain. “It’s rather ironical that in this kind of humour, the public laughs at the other fellow’s misfortune,” Mr Lamb said. “They will laugh at a hobo, laugh at his falls, laugh when he gets soaked, simply because it is safe and warm in the theatre seat. Man’s inhumanity to man is something i cruel,” he said with a laugh. The cane Mr Lamb uses is one of Charlie Chaplin’s. Although Chaplin broke hundreds in his acts, Mr Lamb retains one with two in reserve. They have been with him since his tours i as principal comedian in the Sonja ’ Henie shows.